1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a traffic generation apparatus suitable for use in communication experiments of a network built by using a high-speed communication line, such as 2.5 Gbps (OC48) or 10 Gbps (OC192), which can generate a traffic with long-range dependence characteristics.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, with an increase of traffic, research and experiments related to a network built by using a high-speed communication line, such as 2.5 Gbps (OC48) or 10 Gbps (OC192) have been performed. In building such a network, it is necessary to apply a load similar to the traffic of the actual network to the network beforehand, to thereby perform a communication experiment.
As conventional apparatus for generating an IP packet to be spread for the communication experiment, there have been proposed (1) an apparatus for generating an IP packet cyclically, that is, with a certain time interval; (2) an apparatus for generating an IP packet in bursts; or (3) an apparatus for generating an IP packet with a random time interval.
However, since the pattern of the IP packet generated by the above-described apparatus (1) to (3) is largely different from that of the actual traffic, there is a problem in that even if the IP packet generated by these apparatus is spread into the network, it cannot be said that a load close to the actual traffic is applied to the network. Moreover, there is a problem in that since a packet having a fixed length has heretofore been generated, it is different from an IP packet having a variable length spread to the actual network.